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Stocks Build Momentum as S&P Tops 1,800 For First Time

Wall Street consolidated gains ahead of the weekend on Friday as climbing stocks sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its first ever close above 1,800.

The S&P 500 added 0.50 percent to finish the day at 1,804.76, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.34 percent higher at 16,064.77, and the NASDAQ added 0.57 percent for a closing total of 3,991.65.

A number of healthcare stocks fared well, especially on the S&P where Gilead Sciences (GILD) ended the day up nearly 4 percent. Biotech firm Biogen Idec (BIIB) had gained almost 13 percent after the company won 10 years of market exclusivity in Europe for a new multiple sclerosis treatment it has been working on.

Tech shares also figured in to the day’s rally. While storage device manufacturer Violin Memory (VMEM) saw shares down a whopping 50 percent, and Intel (INTC) was off by about 5 percent, Micron Technology (MU) , Microsoft (MSFT) were both up on heavy trading, and QUALCOMM (QCOM) rose over 5 percent. Application software firm Splunk Inc. (SPLK) had advanced nearly 23 percent.

In oil and gas news, struggling explorer/driller Halcon Resources (HK), pared back earlier gains to end the day one percent higher after research firm MLV initiated coverage on the stock at “hold”.

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